The C, the XL, and Brahms.

Wednesday October 08 2008

Well, I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Hiniker, but I’m ready to hang up the XL. After working with it for over a month now, I’m convinced of the following effects:

• The bore is built for a darker, more covered sound. It has less focus or “edge” in the sound.
• The staple that works best with the XL for me seems to be the Sierra Chudnow. I tried EVERYTHING…. Pisoni, Rigotti, Loree, Weber, Chudnow, Stevens Pro #2, etc, and the Chudnow seemed to be the best fit.
• The reeds seem best with a wider shape, and consequentially thicker sides from the gouge. Woodhams said he uses a Pfeiffer-Mack tip, and on Schuring’s website he also suggests a Pfeiffer-Mack tip, which leads me to believe this is what he uses as well. I tried a Pfeiffer-Mack tip and it didn’t work very well for me, but a Brannen XN tip seemed just right.
• It’s easier to blend in an orchestra since it has a less “piercing” quality to it.

Trying to make reeds for the XL and my CI has been difficult, as the CI just needs smaller openings, thinner shapes, and thinner sides. I’ll be glad to get the Hiniker, which I know plays closer to a Loree, and therefore I’ll be able to adjust my gouge closer to the CI/Hiniker needs rather than the XL. It’s a beautiful horn, and if I had more than one gouging machine right now, it’d be easier to maintain the use of both. But being as it is, it’s taken too much for me to maintain both.

WARNING…: RANT…!!!

Meanwhile, in orchestra we’re playing Brahms 2. It’s a great part, with lots of oboe stuff, but I’m really getting tired of playing. Now, I consider myself to be a very flexible playing. I can play very VERY… quietly and covered. It’s been stressed in my musical training with Mr. Weber. (He used to always say that I hurt his ears, and that I should learn to play at a whisper.) That said, I got called out in orchestra 5 times today for playing too loud. Finally, I said “I’m sorry but I simply can’t play any quietly.”, to which the conductor replied, “Well, then the 1st flute needs to play up!”

I know I play quietly most of the time. I’m very conscious and very aware of it, but I’m getting really frustrated. There’s 22 violins, 8 violas, 10 or 12 cellos, and 4 basses, and full winds, and I simply can not believe that I’M overblowing everyone. At this point, I question why everyone else can’t play louder in the forte spots. Do they have less quality instruments which don’t resonate as much? Are the string players not as strong in their bowing arm? Why aren’t other wind players capable of playing louder?

I know I use a very fast airstream, which is very focused and helps me to produce a more focused tone, but really. This is just too hard for me to believe. I mean— come on! It’s BRAHMS…!!!

Pictures of the weird oboe serial

Saturday October 04 2008

Here’s some pictures of that oboe with the omega in the serial. I guess under super zoom in, it does look like an H, but the other letter still looks like an omega to me.

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Searching for JdL…

Friday September 26 2008

I worked in the Douglass Listening Room this summer, which is part of the University of Oregon Knight Library. One interesting recording I stumbled across, was John de Lancie playing the Bach B minor Mass with the Bach Chorale of Bethlehem under the Baton of Ifor Jones.

It is generally agreed that LPs sound better than CDs, and HERE… is a good explanation why. But this was most plainly obvious listening to this recording. The aria Qui Sedes in the Gloria of the Mass with Contralto was GORGEOUS…. In fact, his sound was so fat, round, and full, I couldn’t tell if he was actually playing an oboe d’amore (as it is written for) or if he was playing oboe! The only other example I have heard JdL sound so fat and thick is on the Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet CD on the Barber Summer Music. It took me three or four listens to confirm that I believe he was indeed playing oboe (the LP jacket says “John de Lancie×Oboe”). Using the Audio/Video editing room in the library, I converted this aria to CD using some very fine sound equipment, but those overtones were lost in the digitalization. The CD ended up with the same JdL tone that one hears on any other JdL CD (which is still more preferable to my ear than anything else I hear nowadays).

All of these listening experiences continuously make me wonder what JdL really sounded like. Listening to this recording, certainly turned on a lightbulb for me though.

I wonder how many oboists nowadays who classify JdL’s tone as “bright” and “buzzy” have listened to him on LP.

Hello, I must be going…

Friday September 26 2008

Well, I received the XL a month or so ago, and just as soon as I’ve finally begun to get comfortable with it, it appears I might be selling it. I’ve been offered to buy my friend’s 2 month old Hiniker oboe, complete with gold keys and a left hand C#, made of 70-year old grenadilla wood given to Wally Bhosys from the Loree company. How often do you get offered a brand new instrument made out of 70-year-old Grenadilla wood? Not to mention a fantastic oboe?

Actually, I’ve been coveting this instrument since the first time I tried it, and simply put, it’s the finest oboe I’ve ever played. Several of my other oboe friends agree; It’s the finest oboe THEY…’VE ever played. So despite how much I love the XL, a once in a lifetime opportunity has landed in my lap!

ODD Loree Symbol…

Sunday September 14 2008

I tried an oboe today that we were trying to find out the Loree serial number, and the person said “Oh, I think it’s a HQ Loree.”

Well, I took a really good look at it, and what I saw floored me. it said “IIΩ72” (I can’t remember the number.) It wasn’t a Q, it was an OMEGA…. II OMEGA… number number.

Does anyone know what this means?